Chinese Govt. Releases First Public Crypto Ratings

The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released its inaugural cryptocurrency ratings this Thursday, May 17. Undertaken by the Ministry’s CCID Research Institute, the ratings evaluated 28 currencies, judging them on criteria that examined fundamental technology, applicability, and innovation.

Coming in at the top of the grade, Ethereum earned a total index score of 129.4. It’s followed by Steem (115.9), Lisk (104.8), NEO (103), and Komodo (101.5). Meanwhile, Bitcoin (88.1) comes in at 13th, wedged between BitShares (90.8) and Verge (88.1). Bitcoin’s low mark comes despite it earning the highest score for innovation, a grade it garnered for being the industry’s pioneering currency.

These ratings come four months after the Weiss Ratings Agency unveiled the world’s first index of cryptocurrency grades. Measured with alphabetical ratings, many of Weiss’ original top picks align with the Chinese government’s own, including Ethereum, Steem, and NEO, all of which received B or B- grades. Weiss also gave Bitcoin one of the lower ratings on their initial report with a C+, a move that elicited skepticism from the community at large. As China’s index follows Weiss’ precedent, Bitcoin’s rating is likely to disgruntle Bitcoin maximalists and other blockchain die-hards, while the placement of other currencies–or lack thereof–will no doubt be met with scrutiny by their fan bases, as well.

Unlike Weiss’ ratings, however, where full access is only available through subscription, the Chinese government’s ratings are publicly accessible, the first ever for the industry. According to domestic reports, the Chinese government believes this transparency will be healthy for future innovation and for properly evaluating each coin’s development.

“It is reported that the index released this time is the world’s first technology-focused public chain assessment index, which will be issued periodically on a monthly basis. The issuance of this index will help to fully grasp the status quo of global public-chain technology development, timely track the direction of public-chain technology innovation, and help promote the innovation and application of blockchain technology,” Chinese outlet CEN writes.